Counting the Days
by la2319
Summary: Title has nothing to do with the story at present time, but it'll come into the fic later. Starts where HBP left off possibly HG pairing later with some RHR. 3rd chappie is up!
1. I'm Okay

In a small town known only to those who lived there two men appeared as suddenly as if they'd just fallen from the sky (not that this was unnatural to those who lived here).

One was young, just barely considered a man, the other appeared to be at least twice his accomplice's age.

The only one who acknowledged their arrival was a pitch black owl, its call echoing through the bleak silence.

The one small sound startled one of the men, and his partner calmed him with a hand. They appeared to know where they were going, setting off at a brisk pace, not looking back.

Dark clouds covered the crescent moon, making the night blacker than it really was, more ominous than usual. Small shack-like houses gave way to more sturdy looking homes, if you could even call them 'homes'.

The only bright thing in the whole place was a light blue curtain hanging out of a smashed up window. Jagged edges of the window were twisted with the curtain, making it look like it was alive with the wind.

No one was there to wonder where they had come from or what they were doing; the place looked like a ghost town.

Most of the occupants coincidentally were ghosts, but the one house the two men ducked into was the only one without a friendly, or unfriendly, ghoul lurking about.

The younger man knew he was running from the inevitable, his life was as good as ended.

He couldn't help but feel a flash of anger at the man running next to him, even though this was the same man risking his own life. If only he'd waited, maybe they wouldn't be running right now, but celebrating instead.

The man knew this was just his pride getting in the way, but he couldn't help it. His whole family had taught him to be a proud, bigoted person.

His own father had gone to jail just the year before, giving him even more reason to want to prove himself.

The older man wasn't thinking of their crime, only of what they were doing at that exact moment. That was how he survived, taking each moment as it came, not dwelling on anything he'd done wrong. Of course, he would have too much to dwell on if he did that.

They had hidden in caves for the past few days, trying to lay low and give things a chance to blow over before getting back into the open.

Both were starving, and welcomed even the meager food found in the older man's house.

"You must stop thinking of yourself for one second, or this will all be for nothing. You act hastily; you will ruin this for us both if you do not follow my instructions, Draco." The older man said quietly, sitting at a small kitchen table for a brief moment, looking at the young man.

"I know, I know. I'll do whatever you say, Severus." Draco didn't face him as they packed for the long journey.

Miles away, students were boarding the train home from Hogwarts, possibly for the last time.

Fog rolled thick and heavy on the grounds, a sign of Dementor breeding, something everyone dreaded.

There was no sun to be seen today, but it had been scarce the past few weeks and people had gotten used to it.

Normally everyone was happy at this time of year, but the few students left to go home wore somber expressions, some of the girls in tears as they looked up at the old castle, some knowing it would probably be the last time they ever saw it.

"Hey, mate." Ron clapped a hand on Harry's shoulder, steadying him as the three of them took a last look at Hogwarts. They knew for certain that they wouldn't be going back next year, even if Hogwarts reopened. Wherever Harry went, Ron and Hermione went, and Harry had made up his mind.

Standing a ways behind them was Ginny, Neville, and Luna, all who had been allowed to stay after Dumbledore's funeral. Neville had stood up to his grandmother for the first time in his life, and she'd nearly murdered him for it, but in the end they'd established that he was a legal adult, and she couldn't have stopped him anyway.

Ginny had also put up a good fight, even fake cried to be allowed to stay the last day, to have just one last day of bliss and ignorance before she was thrust into the big, bad world.

Everyone else was going home to their Mummys and Daddys, she was going home to war.

All of her brothers, her father, they would all be fighting in the upcoming war. Ron, Hermione, and Harry would all be going on some sort of noble mission after the wedding, possibly not coming back for a long while. This was the only thought that brought real tears to her eyes.

She'd been so stupid. Opening her heart up to the Boy-Who-Lived again, believing that he really cared for her when he told her he did. She'd made herself vulnerable, and now she was like a broken window; shattered but still there, still trying her hardest to put on a pretty face for all those who had suffered more than she had.

Oh, boohoo, her boyfriend had dumped her, no one in her family but Ron even knew she'd been dating Harry. The best thing to do would be to forget about it, and pretend like it had never happened. She might have been bruised on the inside, but on the outside she was holding her head up high, even smiling at Harry when he looked at her, even though it shattered her a little bit more every time he smiled back.

On the train ride, he whispered something to her about being friends and she'd accepted, sitting next to him in the only seat left. Neville sat on his other side, across from Luna. They were both smiling at each other, with matching grins that had been plastered to their faces ever since they'd begun going out just days ago.

Ron and Hermione hadn't even bothered hiding their relationship, and were holding hands, as close as they could possibly be without being physically connected to each other.

The looks they gave each other were enough to make Ginny want to gag, and Harry smiled at her again, returning her gaze.

When the trolley came around, she bought a chocolate frog to settle the horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach, something only chocolate could sooth. She took one look at the card and dropped it, closing her eyes and willing it to go away. When she opened her eyes again she saw Harry picking it up.

"Albus Dumbledore." He said quietly, turning the card over to see a smiling Dumbledore look up at him.

"Put it away, I don't want to see it," she whispered, closing her eyes again. "Please just put it away."

"It's gone, Gin." Harry choked out the words, laying his hand gently on top of hers. "It's gone."

Gone. So many things were gone. Her childhood was gone, it had been taken the second she'd been given that bloody diary. Hogwarts was gone, and now all she could see out the window were trees blurring together in a mixture of green. In a sense, Harry was gone. He was distant, there was an ugly brick wall behind his peaceful face.

And Dumbledore was gone. The greatest wizard of their time, possibly ever, and he was dead. No one could live forever, she knew that, she'd accepted it, but now everything fell onto Harry, onto this sixteen year old boy. It wasn't fair.

She almost laughed for a moment, she hadn't said 'It's not fair' since she was six, but suddenly it fit.

It wasn't right that the future of the entire world should fall onto his shoulders. Not only had it ruined their relationship, but it had been a burden to him since he was eleven years old, coming to Hogwarts for the first time.

"You okay?" he whispered, pulling his hand away, as if realizing for the first time they weren't a couple anymore.

"Yeah," she lied. "Yeah, I'm okay."

Not fair.

Nothing more was said, but every so often Ginny saw Harry looking at his trunk, towards the place he had stashed the card.

If she knew him like she thought she did, he would study every single detail of the card. He would look at it until his eyes were sore, praying that he could somehow see their old headmaster living just once more to ask him everything he'd never been able to.

She was the opposite. Any mention, anything that reminded her of anyone she'd lost, of anything she feared, and she went in the other direction. She turned tail and ran.

When she was little she used to keep a diary, but after first year she'd burned every piece of paper and parchment she'd ever owned. Her mother had thrown a fit at first, she hadn't understood.

Whenever she saw a girl writing in her diary, first years in particular, she panicked. Once, in her third year at Hogwarts, she'd ripped a diary away from a first year girl just because it looked like Tom's. She'd gotten detention from it, but after talking Dumbledore she'd started seeing someone at St. Mungo's.

They'd assured her she wasn't crazy, even though she still believed she had been.

The man asked her all sorts of questions.

He asked her what her favorite color was. Emerald.

What sort of pet she liked? Cats.

What sort of pet she had then? None.

What her favorite subject was? At the moment, Transfiguration. Why? Because she liked the concept.

When was her birthday? August 11th.

Who were her friends? Michael Corner, Colin Creevey, and Luna Lovegood.

Not her brother? No, not her brother. Why not? Because he didn't care to have a thirteen year old trailing after him. Oh.

Did she play any sports? She wanted to play Quidditch but there wasn't any this year because of the Triwizard Tournament.

Who did she want to win the Tournament? Harry, of course. Why? Because he saved her life, and he's her brother's best friend.

Did she think he was going to win? Of course, he was Harry Potter, after all. Does that make him special? No. Then why bring it up? She didn't know.

What was her favorite food? Ice cream, definitely ice cream.

What was her favorite ice cream? Mint, with just a little chocolate.

None of the questions had anything to do with anything. It was like playing 20 questions with one of her friends. Somehow it had helped though, telling him all the little details that no one bothered to ask.

She'd never gone psycho on another diary since then, and had even used the small journal Sirius gave her in her fourth year. Everyone knew to call it a journal; she didn't like the idea of having another diary.

Of course, Sirius had tested it first to make sure there were no evil bits of soul preserved in her new journal. Remus had even volunteered to look at it, and Harry had written 'Say hello if you want to kill me' in it.

Ginny still had it, still had the page with 'Say hello if you want to kill me' on it, and still laughed every time she read that page.

"Ginny?" she realized Hermione was poking her in the shoulder. "Ginny? Come on, time to go."

All six of them stepped off the train together, mostly still in their Hogwarts Uniforms. The boys had ditched their ties though, pulling out their shirts to be more casual, and the girls had gotten rid of their tights, trading black shoes for sneakers.

Mrs. Weasley hugged them all, including Neville and Luna, even though they'd all seen each other at the funeral. She held onto Harry longer than the others as Neville and Luna wandered towards their own parents.

Bill, Fred, George, Moody, and Kingsley Shacklebolt were acting as their guard this time, pretending it was casual. Ginny got hugged three times more, a hand shake from Shacklebolt, and a quick nod from Moody, who then winked, revealing his spinning eye.

She winked back at him, before letting her oldest brother hold onto her once more. He wasn't quite healed yet, but well enough to be out of bed, he couldn't stand just laying around. Although still marred, Bill was as handsome as ever in Ginny's eyes.

The huge party passed through the barrier and Hermione greeted her own parents.

The Dursleys were also there, Mr. Dursley cringing as he recognized Mad-eye. Harry greeted his aunt and uncle nonchalantly, saying quick goodbyes to everyone as the Dursleys were already leaving the station. Dudley was still clutching his round bottom.

"Hey mate, we'll be coming to get you soon enough," Ron clapped Harry on the back.

"See you Ron, Hermione, thanks Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. 'Bye Kingsley, Professor Moody, Bill. Good luck with the shop Gred and Forge! Goodbye, Ginny." Ginny and Harry looked at each other for a moment. Ginny almost stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, but remembered she couldn't do that anymore.

Instead they touched hands in the shadow of a hand shake, and Harry jogged along to catch up with the Dursleys, lugging his trunk behind him.

Fred and George cooed something about Harry having a crush on her and she almost started to cry. Ron looked at her sympathetically, putting an arm supportively around his little sister.

"Shall we go home then?" Mrs. Weasley asked the crowd at large.

A chorus of yeses roared back at her, and she smiled heartily.

Ginny had to admit it was nice being in her real home. Hogwarts was her home away from home, but here it felt right. Everyone in her family (excluding Percy) was at her house, including Charlie. Charlie had come home that morning, but had unpacked instead of meeting them.

He got a good welcome back hug from Ginny, more like an attack from behind that involved her jumping on top of him and yelling, "CHARLIE!"

"Hey, Gin-Gin." He smiled at his sister, as he finished putting his things away in Fred and George's old room. "How're you holding up?"

"What?" she took a step back. There was no possible way he could know about her and Harry—

"I know the whole funeral was kind of hard on everyone," Charlie rambled on, and she sighed inwardly in relief.

She could lie to anyone else with a simple, "I'm okay." But would her family believe that?

It was bad enough facing everyone at school when she'd broken up with Harry, but her own family? And she still wasn't positive as to whether they'd pick Harry's side or her own, so that wasn't a chance she wanted to take.

"Yeah," she dismissed the subject, running away from it again. "I'm so glad you're here!"

"My brother is getting married, this is the perfect excuse to come home and see my lovely baby sister." He smiled, ruffling her hair.

"Liar." She did the same to him, and soon both their heads were a mess, looking like a tornado had just hit their hair.

"Alright, so you're not exactly lovely, but I'm improvising. Work with me here, okay?"


	2. We Should Get A Piano

Far away from the Burrow, stuck at Privet Drive, Harry was settling in for a while of misery with the Dursleys. He no longer needed to count the days until September 1st, so he focused on the time he had to endure until he got to see Ron and Hermione again.

He envied his best friends. At the end of the school year they went home to a loving family, even if Hermione's parents were dentists.

He would do anything to have a family like Ron's, and for a while it seemed like he might achieve that if he and Ginny had stayed strong. But things never work out the way you want them to, do they?

He missed her so much. He missed the having her small fingers encased in his rough hand, the feel of her lips on his cheek whenever they parted. He missed being able to talk to her about anything and everything, and having a little of this huge weight lifted off of his shoulders.

For a second when he was leaving he had almost thought she would kiss him goodbye, but she hadn't. She might never again.

Every minute he asked himself if he had done the right thing. If breaking up with her had really made any difference. The look in her eyes on the Hogwarts Express, all the pain beneath her chocolate brown eyes made him sick to his stomach and he kept wondering What If.

What if he hadn't been the Boy-Who-Lived? Would they have even dated?

What if they'd gone out before this year? Would they have lasted this long?

What if he had never gone out with her? Would she be in less danger?

Was she actually_ in_ danger just because he'd gone out with her, just because he cared for her?

Before he went to sleep that night, he tried his hardest to clear his mind, tried his hardest to forget about Ginny, vowing to himself that he would never let them use her.

"Ginny, dear, time to get up. You must help Charlie and Ron degnome the garden." Mrs. Weasley chided for the fourth time that morning.

"Mhm." Ginny mumbled, rolling over again.

"_Now_, Ginevra." Mrs. Weasley slammed the door, walking out in a huff.

"Okay." She muttered, pulling her sheets closer to her chin.

Chuckling to themselves, Charlie and Ron crept silently into her room, wands held aloft.

"Oh Ginny," Charlie cooed, watching her roll over again. "Time to wake up!"

At the same time, Ron was muttering 'Aguamenti' under his breath, and suddenly a hose of water spat out at Ginny's sleeping figure.

She screamed, jumping out of bed. She was thoroughly soaked and as angry as she could possibly be.

Charlie sprinted out of her room, but Ron stood petrified as she clenched her fists, shaking from head to foot.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley I'm giving you a five second head start before I blow you to smithereens." She told him dangerously, grabbing at her own wand. "Five, four . . ."

He didn't need to be told twice, but took off running.

Forgetting about the three seconds she had yet to count, Ginny slipped around to her closet, sliding because her feet were wet and seething because of their silly little prank.

"Stupid brothers." She muttered, wringing out her hair. She imagined wringing Ron's neck the exact same way and smiled, pulling on a pair of old, holey jeans.

She then peeled off Ron's old Chudley Cannons muscle shirt that she'd slept in every night since her third year. Ron had been so broad shouldered and huge that it was still about four times too big for her, which made it perfect for sleeping. Of course, every time she looked in the mirror she was reminded of how scrawny she was.

She hated the way she looked. She was like a stick figure, with too-skinny arms and chicken legs. With her shirt still off, she critiqued her concave stomach, and felt the areas that her ribs poked through. She pinched the skin in her fingers, frowning.

"Hey Gin—oh! Gees!" Bill covered his eyes with his hand and she quickly threw on a shirt.

"It's safe now, Bill." She laughed, taking his hand away.

"That's going to haunt me for the rest of my life." He closed his eyes, grimacing.

"Then knock first next time. Is Mum cooking breakfast?" she asked, glancing once more at her clothed self in her full-length mirror.

"Yeah, she wanted me to tell you to come down and eat before Fred and George take your food."

"Why are they here? In case they haven't noticed, they don't live at the Burrow anymore." She watched Bill jump over the thirteenth step from the bottom, the one that creaked.

She smiled, remembering all of the times Bill and Charlie's attempts to sneak out had been foiled by that one narrow step. Their mother had yelled loud enough to wake up the whole country on those nights.

"Hey sleeping Beauty." Fred tugged on her ever-growing hair as she sat down at the table, pulling her plate away from him. It was now touching her waist, threatening to grow past her shirt's hemline.

"What?"

"Muggle thing, sorry."

"Don't you two have someone else to bug, or a shop to go own or something?" Ginny whined, spearing a sausage half-heartedly.

"What's up? Post-Hogwarts blues? Are we really that bad?" George gave her a one-armed hug, stealing some of her breakfast in the process.

Bill and Charlie started a sausage war, flinging food back and forth at each other. Fred and George started in, and even Ron resurfaced to eat after realizing she still hadn't come after him.

Mrs. Weasley tried (and failed) to stop them, but food-fighting was the only thing Ginny's brothers had yet to be deterred from.

Ron sat down next to her to watch them for a while, for once not shoving his face at the breakfast table.

"Hey," He said in greeting, his eyes fixed on their older brothers.

"Hey," she dropped her fork, giving up on the whole new adventure that was eating.

Since she and Harry had broken up, she'd not eaten a single bite. It was like having him gone erased everything from her memory. Clichéd, but true. She couldn't remember how to sleep fitfully, or how to eat, or how to stop thinking about him. Or how to move on.

That's what he'd asked her to do. In so many words he had, but she didn't know _how_ to move on anymore.

"I know the whole Harry thing is bound to be a depressing subject, so I'm going to leave it short." Ron said quietly to her, folding his hands in a way that almost reminded her of Hermione. "It's really awkward. Being your friend, your brother, Harry's mate. I can't do it all at once or I'll explode. It was really easy being the big protective bodyguard brother when you two were snogging each other senseless, but now it's just weird. Promise me you'll at least try to make it unweird. Not weird, I mean."

"Look, Ron. I'm not going to try make this difficult purposely, but I can't stand by and watching him nobly deteriorate everything he has left." The food had finally settled, and the boys were laughing, sitting back in their seats.

"That was awesome." Bill said, getting scrambled eggs out of his hair.

"Definitely cool." Charlie agreed.

"Definitely wrong, and if I could, I would ground you all." Mrs. Weasley scolded.

"We should get a piano."

Everyone turned to stare at Ginny, even Fred who was in mid bite.

"_What_?"

"I'm just saying, is all."

Ginny stared at the floor meekly, and eventually everyone returned to shoveling food into their mouths.

"Get up, boy!"

Those were the three words Harry had been hearing for the past weeks. Aunt Petunia's shrill voice told him to wake up every day at six in the morning to do chores or other things that she thought herself too important for.

He didn't mind getting up early, but hated that instead of seeing his friends when he woke up he would be forced to stay in company of Dudley all day, who had admittedly lost a lot of weight in the past year. He still looked like the hulk though, but with less muscle and more 'baby fat' as Aunt Petunia liked to say.

He looked at his calendar, less than a week until he went to the Burrow. He arrived twelve days before the wedding, which was August eleventh, and left the very next morning to Godric's Hollow.

He was half looking forward to and half dreading getting to Godric's Hollow. Remus had told him that his parents' graves were there, as they'd asked to be buried there.

Seeing Ginny again was his main goal. He was convinced he'd made the right decision, but that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy the little time left he had to see her. He wanted to watch her prance around when she knew she was right, swish her hair back and forth when she walked, and watch her sleep. She was never more beautiful than when she was sleeping.

A couple weeks before the break in at Hogwarts, they'd gone together to the Room of Requirement for a night, just to talk and snog a little (and that was it, strictly PG). They had stayed the night and he could still see her peaceful figure sleeping next to him. The way her chest moved up and down with each breath, spilling her blood red curls all around her. He'd been completely intoxicated by her, like she was a drug that he just couldn't get enough of.

She was a bad habit for him, like smoking. And the worst thing was she made him feel good. It was hard to quit a habit that made you feel like you were more than a name. More than just a filler in someone's life. She made him feel like more than just the Boy-Who-Lived.

Of course, the moment she saw him she'd probably castrate him for being such an arse to her, and then he'd be the Boy-Who-Was-Castrated-By-His-Ex-Girlfriend.

Girls were so bloody confusing. She didn't realize that he wasn't just being 'noble'. This was his destiny, if he didn't do this then thousands, no, millions of people would either be destroyed or turned into Death Eaters. He was doing this for her safety, he cared for her more than anything in the world.

He cared for her more than Ron and Hermione, or Professor Dumbledore, possibly more than Sirius and maybe even more than his dead parents. But then again, how would you love someone you can't even remember? People always said that kids were mad for thinking they could be in love at such a young age, but Harry knew what love was.

He'd felt it for Sirius, for all of the good Marauders (that leaves out Peter), and now for Ginny. It was such an intense feeling, unlike anything he'd ever felt before. He'd talked about it with Remus once, and the older man had told him that it was the same feeling he got around Tonks.

If he had to choose between breathing and Ginny, he'd pick Ginny. He'd give his life up to save her, but in the end he'd given her up to save her life and so many others.

There had been no way to stay in the relationship. Even if her endangerment was inevitable, there was no possible way they could keep a long distance relationship, and he would watch Hell freeze over before he let her come with them to Godric's Hollow, even though he knew she would readily agree if he mentioned anything of the sort to her. She would eventually find somebody else to love, and she would move on.

It would be better for her that way.

He thought this over as Aunt Petunia screeched at him to mow the lawn. Sometimes he just had the strongest urge to use some heinous hex on her, something she'd never forget.

Maybe he'd just give Dudley a new tail to replace the old one.

"Mum is majorly freaking out right now, honestly. She's gone mad from your wedding, Bill." Ginny said sadly, as she cleaned the drawing room for the second time that day.

"You're just upset because Mum found out you shoved everything in the linen closet." Bill smiled, and she watched him recline on the couch.

"How about helping me out a bit then?" she asked hopefully.

"Nah. I'm too lazy."

Ginny's eyes flashed dangerously at him, "Mum isn't making you do anything. I've had to help Charlie with his dress robes, clean my room and yours, and finish cleaning Ron's because he, too, is a lazy bum. I've had to degnome the garden every other hour, clean out the broom shed, pull weeds, and clean this room four times in the past week."

On top of that, she'd cooked breakfast and dinner the past three days, the _muggle_ way! Mrs. Weasley wouldn't let her use magic, since she wasn't of age yet. She was the only one not allowed, and Ron hexed her whenever he got the chance.

She'd been hit with the jelly legs jinx, Levicorpus, and several others she guessed he'd gotten out of Snape's old potions book. She shuddered to think what some of the hexes in that book might have done. Harry had brooded for ages over what he'd done to Malfoy, even if the little ferret had deserved it.

As she came back to reality, she saw that Bill had fallen asleep, and Fred and George were holding something that looked suspiciously like one of their products.

"What're you two doing?" she snapped at them.

"Shhh!" George hissed at her.

"Okay, but I was never here." She slipped out, winking at them.

"Of course," Fred smiled. "We never saw you."

A few minutes later she knew they'd accomplished whatever they were trying to do as she heard Bill's yells all the way into the kitchen. He stormed in, literally blue in the face.

Ginny clapped a hand to her mouth, giggling at the absurdity of his appearance. Everywhere she looked he was some other bright, vibrant color. His face was light blue, his hair green, his hands were an orange-yellow color, and his arms were pink.

"Where are they?" he snarled, but if she took her hand away she would laugh too hard.

Suddenly she heard a shriek, and turned to see her mother standing in the doorway.

"What happened!" Mrs. Weasley cried, throwing up her hands. "What have you done? You'll all be the death of each other, someday, I promise you will."

"It was Fred and George." Bill mumbled angrily, rubbing at his arms as if he thought he could make the colors disappear.

"Tattle tale." Ginny stuck her tongue out at him.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley, act your age, not your shoe size. Now go find your brothers!" Mrs. Weasley snapped at her, taking a book off the shelf, trying to find a cure for Bill.

"Which ones?" Ginny asked cockily, before seeing her mother's angry face and scurrying off in search of the twins.

She found them huddled around the corner, laughing so hard they were both crying.

"Brilliant, isn't it?" Fred asked, wiping his eyes. "It's something we've been dying to test out for ages."

"I'd get out of here if I were you, or Mum will have a cow over what you two did so close to the wedding," Ginny hurried them away, looking behind her to make sure their mum couldn't see. "You owe me."

The twins ended up being yelled at by Mrs. Weasley later that evening, something that lasted at least an hour and gave Ginny a good chuckle.

Bill was still colored, but the twins said it might take a while for him to fade. Fleur was furious, and warned them if he wasn't normal by the wedding she would hex them into the next century. It was all rather fun, especially when Mrs. Weasley tried to ground Fred and George to their old room.

Wishing to herself that things would stay like that day forever, Ginny curled up in front of the fire to read a book. Honestly, Hermione was rubbing off on all of them!


	3. You'll Get 'Er Next Time

Harry managed a half smile, crossing off the last day on his calendar. At nine o'clock, Ron would be coming to get him with Bill and Charlie.

His trunk was still packed, he'd used his wand to do it as soon as he got up, the first bit of legal magic he'd ever done away from Hogwarts. He wished Ginny were coming to get him too, he wished she'd understood that he still wanted to be friends. Girls were so complicated!

When it came to the opposite sex, Harry was completely lost. Ginny had always told him what she was thinking, what she was feeling, and whatever was bothering her. Now that he didn't know, he felt so cut off.

He just wanted to talk to her again. Ron was his best mate, but he could tell Ginny anything and, no offense to Ron, she listened better.

He'd started off his morning by stunning Dudley, which was completely wicked because his aunt and uncle were too scared to do anything to him.

He looked out the window, and smiled, seeing Charlie ruffle Ron's hair as they came down the walk.

Quickly, Harry took out his wand and floated the heavy trunk down the stairs. He had shrunken everything in his room that he had to take, which admittedly wasn't very much, and stuffed it all inside.

He opened the door before the three men could even knock, and was immediately greeted by all three Weasley brothers.

"Hey mate!" Ron cried, slapping him on the back a little too hard. With a flick of Charlie's wand, Harry's trunk had disappeared, and reappeared at the Burrow.

"Let's go, kid." Bill said.

Harry asked Ron why Bill was so colorful, and Ron just laughed and whispered, "Fred and George."

Those three words pretty much explained everything.

When they arrived on the front lawn, Harry couldn't help but notice the Burrow looked cleaner than ever.

And then he figured out what had gotten it that way.

"Hey Gin," Charlie kissed the top of her head before sidling inside with Bill, talking about the wedding.

She was on her knees, pulling weeds from the garden.

Ginny looked up, brushing dirt on her shorts. She was wearing another old shirt, Ron's he suspected. It was green and the sleeves were rolled up to her shoulders because it was very warm outside.

Her eyes got very round when she saw Harry, having forgotten that he would be arriving that day.

Ginny crossed her arms quickly, and Harry realized why the green shirt looked so familiar; it was his. She'd always been borrowing things that he didn't wear anymore, she very much preferred to wear over-large tee shirts and things like that. She must've just kept it or something.

He noticed that he was staring and peeled his eyes away, seeing her blush a light pink color that ruined her beautiful hair.

"Hey," he said quietly.

She just pulled her arms tighter, disappearing into the house. It reminded him slightly of when she had been ten years old, running away from him whenever he entered a room.

"What was that?" Ron laughed nervously, not sure how Harry would react to having Ginny run away from him. "Mum probably needed her help in the kitchen or something."

Speak of the devil, Mrs. Weasley came running out to greet Harry with a bone-crushing hug.

"Oh, Harry dear! You are so thin, what would you like to eat? Have the muggles been good to you? They didn't starve you, did they? You look awfully skinny. You and Ginny must be having a contest to see who can go without eating for the longest, honestly." Mrs. Weasley hurried him inside, beginning to make him something to eat, against his protests.

"What?" he asked, as she stuffed his mouth with toast.

"Nothing, dear. Nothing for you to worry about." She bustled about, moving so quickly for such a short, stubby woman.

'You and Ginny must be having a contest to see who can go without eating for the longest. . . .' Harry thought about what she'd said. Was Ginny starving herself?

In a second, Ginny was there in person, in a light blue shirt that looked as though it might actually belong to her.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked tactlessly.

"Just brilliant, why?" she didn't meet his gaze, but looked towards Ron.

"You just look a little . . . off."

"Not all of us can be so bloody perfect," She said sharply, perhaps more than she intended, for she added, "Sorry."

"Ginny, don't be rude. Are you finished in the garden?" Mrs. Weasley asked her.

"Not _really_."

"Go!"

Ginny sulked away, making a very rude hand gesture to her mother when Mrs. Weasley wasn't looking.

"Stupid Mum," she muttered, once she was out in the garden again. Everyone else in the Burrow could use magic (not including Harry) but her. Yet, she was the one who did most of the cleaning. How unfair was that?

There was that word again, fair. What really was fair?

Would it be fair if Harry went away without her, and left her to do her little garden work?

Why was she still thinking of Harry? The stupid git was probably in there, mortified, because he had to spend the last of his peaceful weeks in the same house as her.

He wanted to be friends.

Friends.

Ginny tried to wrap her mind around the idea of going back to being friends with Harry Potter, and couldn't seem to manage it.

She'd never wanted the Boy-Who-Lived, never wanted the Chosen One, she'd wanted—

"Hey," Harry wandered outside, hands in his pockets.

"Hello," she kept her head down as if she were doing something wrong, and continued to pick at the small weeds surrounding the garden.

A gnome came out, walking aimlessly, and she laughed at its attempts to jump up into one of their bushes.

"What have I missed?" he asked slowly, sitting beside her.

Ginny scooted away from him, "Nothing but cleaning."

"Could I help then?" she raised her eyes to look at him sitting there, an uneasy smile on his face.

"Sure, Harry."

By the time they were done, Ginny had taken off the mask of indifference that she'd been wearing since the funeral, torn down the wall between them and realized that it was possible to be friends.

"I don't even know what it was that they used on Bill," Ginny laughed, "I'm just glad they didn't try it on me!"

"Do you think he'll be back to normal by the wedding?" Harry smiled.

"Probably, because if not, Fleur will go through the roof," she surveyed the garden, looking between all of the plants. "Well, I think we're done. Thanks for helping, I would've been here all day."

"No problem," Harry said off-handedly.

They were joking around so much, she hardly noticed when he put his arm around her shoulders casually, almost like one of her brothers would.

But then they walked inside, and Charlie wolf-whistled, and Ginny pushed Harry away quickly.

"Ginny," Harry cried, watching her flee up the stairs to her room.

He winced, hearing her door slam shut.

"Sorry, Mate," Charlie and Bill chuckled. "You'll get 'er next time."

Harry just growled something incoherently, and stomped away.


End file.
